Sunday, August 30, 2015

Save a date this Force Friday when an epic "The Force Awakens" toy unboxing event will take place around the globe. This is the first time such an event will be carried out live in 15 cities and 12 countries in the span of over 18 hours!

The event kicks off in Sydney, Australia on 3 September, 7:45 AM local time, and then proceed to roll across to Asia, Europe, Canada and North & South America, before ending with a finale at Lucasfilm in San Francisco, 3 September, 8 AM local time.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Beards have made a come back. They are getting a lot more attention lately. They even get themselves into all kinds of hairy situations - like travelling around the world, fostering international geek-lationships and even publishing books!

Two sets of Red Dot Island-based beards will be making a combined appearance at the coming STGCC 2015 at Marina Bay Sands next month. Under the banner of GLOBAL BEARDS, they are very eager to show off their dark and handsome hirsuteness by peddling their books, artwork.. and other stuff at Artist Alley Booth AA98.

Showing great restraint from stroking these hardworking beards, Red Dot Diva spoke to the two dudes - Gene Whitlock and Wayne Rée - whose faces the beards call home for several years.

Last year, the beards of both Gene Whitlock and Wayne Rée were part of a cohort of writers based at Book Actually's The Comic Strip. Gene-beard had produced a mischievous noir-style detective story called "The Unsavoury Alphabet", and Wayne-beard had written "Tales From A Tiny Room", an absorbing anthology of unique stories.

It will be most interesting to see what kind of the crazy creative synergy the pair will come up with in this year's STGCC!

Want to find out what's in store at GLOBAL BEARDS? Here are some details to tickle your curiousity!

Thursday, August 27, 2015

This year's International Cosplay Day Singapore (ICDS) was held on 21 and 22 August at SCAPE.

The annual event is a lively celebration of cosplay and friendship, with a cosplay competition, a small range of exhibitor booths, a doujin market, panels, cosplay chess, quizzes and even exciting lightsabre fight displays on stage, courtesy of the performance group called FightSabre.

Internationally popular cosplayerJin Joson (behindinfinity) is this year's Guest-of-Honor. Jin is well-known for her incredibly realistic versions of Naruto, Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin, and more recently, the loveable Hiro Hamada from Disney's animated movie "Big Hero 6". (For insights as to how she and her friends pulled off the almost unbelievable "Big Hero 6" cosplay, read her blog post here.)

Just before doors opened for ICDS attendees at 10AM, Red Dot Diva arrived at SCAPE, eager to meet Jin in person. Jin was already backstage, dressed in her cosplay as the wizard Howl Jenkins Pendragon from Studio Ghibli's "How's Moving Castle".

There was still spare time before her meet-and-greet with the fans, which made it the most appropriate opportunity for Red Dot Diva to find out more about Jin and her adventures in the cosplay community.

Saturday, August 22, 2015

With just 3.5 weeks to go, AsiaPop Comic Con Manila announces a long list of fantastic guests for the event that includes several comic book guests and a couple more toy designer guests!

Included in the list of guests announced in this round is one of Red Dot Diva's personal favourites, the multi-talented and very bicepstuous David Mack, creator of the Kabuki series and writer/ artist of Marvel's "Daredevil" and "Daredevil: End of Days".

David has also written a children's book called "Shy Creatures". But the most mesmerizing part of having DMack in a convention show is when he whips out his brushes, paper and ink, and starts drawing live. Biceps flexes included.

Don't believe Red Dot Diva about the biceps? Just view this interview video of DMack and "Fight Club" creator Chuck Palaniuk with CBR.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Love playing video games? Better still, love playing games *and* consider yourself a total Star Wars fan? Then... *cue John Williams theme song*... the Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition is guaranteed to bring more fun into family or personal gaming time!

Red Dot Diva attended the launch for the popular toy-game hybrid at the Sandcrawler earlier this week. She has to confess that she is not a gamer (personal decision: she gets too easily addicted!), but she still finds the gaming world an extremely creative and imaginative domain.

Mostly though, she fell in love with the Disney Infinity toys on display. *sheepish Diva grin*

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Meeting a fandom's high expectations is a rough deal, especially when a beloved anime is adapted to a different medium. So, it was inevitable that there was a gamut of reactions from those who have already watched "Attack on Titan" (AoT) Part One.

These ranged from the sheer disappointment of hardcore AoT lovers, to the "it's pretty OK" mentions by those who are not too invested in the franchise. Then, there are also the horror fans who relished the uncomfortable existential terror that ran through the course of the film, and those who loved the movie anyway.

AoT's creator Hajime Isayama, who is involved in the production, said that he was perplexed by the hate hurled at the movie adaptation, and assured that he as well as the director, writer and producers are taking in various opinions to better understand the fans' reactions.

Nevertheless, "Attack on Titan" topped the box office in Japan, with takings of about 600 million Yen (about SGD 6.8 million) on opening week.

Fans outside of Asia are eagerly waiting for the English version, and this week, FUNanimation announced the North American premiere dates. The Titans are set to stomp into theatres on September 30 for Part 1 and October 20 for Part 2.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

A long list of free activities began this week in celebration of Red Dot Island's 50th birthday.

Many attractions and sites are either offering free access (like the various museums) or discounted ticket prices (the zoos/ Gardens by the Bay), which would most probably mean snake-long queues and equally long waiting times. So, here's an alternative SG50-related event that is both free and would not need lining up in order to have some family fun!

These lovely structures - over 40 of them - were build by a group of passionate brick builders from the local community. From the displays, it was evident to Red Dot Diva that a lot of heart and soul was lovingly put into the pieces - many of which evoke much Nostalgia Feels.

Friday, August 7, 2015

ICYMI (Red Dot Diva says that's understandable, since there are all these #SG50 stuff happening all over town), there's something .. no, actually.... *SOMEONE* very sexy, who is eager to meet you!

With his long wind-swept mane that would make Thor Odinson jealous, eye-popping muscular abs and overall bicepstuousness, Merlion Redesigned will be standing tall and strong at a special exhibit held at Gardens by the Bay.

Merlion's hunky transformation is a far cry from his familiar, comfy Dad bod, which looks like this:

Now, this is what the reboot Merlion looks like in Gardens by the Bay's promo collaterals!

Monday, August 3, 2015

Whether the live action movie adaptation of "Attack on Titan" (進撃の巨人) is worth feasting one's eyes upon would depend on one's palate.

Essentially, "Attack on Titan" is
about the remaining clusters of mankind battling to survive against
enormous creatures who stampede through the cities' barricades, and
whose single purpose is to devour every single human being in sight.

Both the original manga written and illustration by Hajime Isayama, as well as animated series, are hugely popular with anime fans. For such fans, the live action movie may turn out to be a disappointment.

Red Dot Diva
understands that there is an almost impossible challenge to adapting the character-rich world of manga and anime into a two-part movie, but in
this case, she felt that the key changes made were not entirely to the film's advantage.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

The Red Dot Island's 50th Birthday is next weekend, and there is already a long list of free SG50 activities and places of interest for locals and tourists to join in the big birthday bash.

Red Dot Diva says you can add one more to your list - the very special SG50 3D Light Show at the Fullerton Hotel, a heritage building with a 87-year-old history. The original landmark, the Fullerton Building, was constructed in 1928, and starting from today 1 August, the grand old lady will be dressed in fancy colours for 9 days.

Last night, Red Dot Diva was invited to a preview of the light-up called "A Celebration of Our Heritage". She had mistakenly thought the registration was at the hotel itself, and when she could not find any signs leading to the event, she asked for help from the nearest hotel personnel she could find.